OCHI is pleased to present horses in my chanclas, b chehayeb’s debut solo exhibition with the gallery, on view at OCHI Aux in Los Angeles, California from November 6 through December 11, 2021. An Artist’s Reception will be held on Saturday, November 6^th from 2:00 to 4:00pm PST.

horses in my chanclas features new and recent semi-abstract paintings by Brooklyn-based artist b chehayeb that transcribe memories and sensory experiences into luscious planes of color, texture, gesture, and ambiance. Each painting begins with a narrative or emotional recollection from chehayeb’s transitory adolescence in western Texas, a place where gender identity and cultural constructs were frequently enforced, fetishized, or corralled within the contexts of religion and commercialism. Some works include excerpts of Spanish, Spanglish, or English words, while others reference Tejano or ranch culture. In each painting a number of marks float to the foreground, taking shape, making themselves known until a symbol is formed. These signifiers seem to have wandered far from their signifieds—we believe they still exist, but we may never reunite or interpret them.

Channeling Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, and Cy Twombly, chehayeb’s strengths lie in her confidence of paint application, her deft navigation of color, and an innate ability to mine her past without getting lost in sentimentality, trauma, or nostalgia. The titular painting, Horses in my chanclas (2021), conflates memories of casually drawing horses at home with ‘chanclas’—a Spanish word for flip flop that connotes a culturally specific use of sandals as a tool for the corporal punishment of children within a family. With humor and grit chehayeb notes that the painting speaks to “the normalcy and demystification of artmaking and also getting my ass whopped,” reminding us that looking at past events from the safety of the present can help in the healing process. Memory—imperfect, incomplete, or unreliable—is the driving force in this non-linear non-objective Bildungsroman cycle of paintings. chehayeb embraces its inconsistencies, making them the backbone of her studio practice. There is no good, there is no bad, and all we have is what we remember.

b chehayeb (b. 1990, Dallas, TX) makes paintings, prints, and drawings that focus on the reconstruction of failed memories, specifically memories warped by nostalgia, gender, language, and cultural hybridity. She received her MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2020 and her BFA in painting with studies in creative writing from the University of North Texas in 2013. chehayeb has been awarded residencies at Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA; the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT; the Lower East Side Printshop in New York, NY; and most recently the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency Award in Troy, NY. In addition to being a finalist for the Hopper Prize Grant, chehayeb was awarded a 2020 New York City Redbull Arts Microgrant. Her work has been featured in various publications including Hyperallergic, Glasstire, Maake Magazine, Art Maze Magazine, and The Hopper Prize Journal.

CHECKLIST OF WORKS